Editing Simone Beck

{{Short description|French cooking author and teacher (1904–1991)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name             = Simone Beck
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| caption          = Beck in 1972
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| pseudonym        = Simca
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| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1904|07|07}} 
| birth_place      = [[Normandy]], France
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1991|12|20|1904|07|07}} 
| death_place      = [[Châteauneuf-de-Grasse]], France
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| occupation       = Author and cooking teacher
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| nationality      = French
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| genre            = Cookbooks
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| notable_works    = ''What's Cooking in France?''
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'''Simone "Simca" Beck''' (7 July 1904 – 20 December 1991) was a French cookbook writer and cooking [[teacher]] who, along with colleagues [[Julia Child]] and [[Louisette Bertholle]], played a significant role in the introduction of [[French cuisine|French cooking technique and recipes]] into American kitchens.<ref name="NYTobit">{{cite news | author1=Hall, Trish | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/21/nyregion/simone-beck-a-cook-dies-at-87-co-wrote-book-with-julia-child.html |title=Simone Beck, a Cook, Dies at 87; Co-Wrote Book With Julia Child | work=[[New York Times]] |date=1991-12-21 | df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Early life==
Beck was born on 7 July 1904, in Tocqueville-en-Caux, near [[Dieppe]] in [[Normandy]]. Her family was rich because they had a business in production of [[Bénédictine]] liqueur.<ref name="NYTobit"/> When she was little, she liked helping her family cook to prepare desserts or entire meals. 

In 1923, at her parents' urging to marry, she wed Jacques Jarlaud. After surviving a car crash in 1928, she worked for four years bookbinding<ref>{{Cite web |title=The (Other) French Chef {{!}} Hazlitt |url=https://hazlitt.net/longreads/other-french-chef |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=hazlitt.net |language=en}}</ref> and being a sales representative, where she met her second husband. In 1933, at the end of her marriage with Jacques Jarlaud, she applied to the [[Le Cordon Bleu]] school in Paris. 

In 1936, Beck met Jean Victor Fischbacher. After marrying him in 1937, she kept her maiden name as a [[pen name]] and professionally, but used her husband's name socially.<ref name="harvard.edu">{{cite web |url= https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/5237 | title=  Papers of Simone Beck, 1920-1993  | website=Harvard Library }}</ref>

==Cooking career==
The start of Beck's professional career as a [[cook (profession)|cook]] and [[teacher]] was after [[World War II]], and after joining [[Le Cercle des Gourmettes]], an exclusive women's culinary club. She became involved in the world of cooking. She was inspired to write a cookbook for Americans by [[Louisette Bertholle]] and Fischbacher.

The first attempt at writing a cookbook wasn't successful, so Beck and Bertholle published the brief ''What's Cooking in France?'' in 1952. After that Beck published a [[book]]let ''Le pruneau devant le fourneau: Recettes de cuisine'' (ca. 1952), Beck's only publication in French. In 1949, after she had met [[Julia Child]], she became inspired to write a French cookbook for Americans again. She, Child, and Bertholle together wrote ''[[Mastering the Art of French Cooking]]'', which was published in 1961. ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. II'' (without [[Louisette Bertholle]]) followed in 1970, elaborating on several subjects (particularly baking and [[charcuterie]]) that the authors felt had received insufficient coverage in the first volume.

Both Bertholle and Child became members of [[Le Cercle des Gourmettes]]. After three years, the three women formed [[École des trois gourmandes|l'École des trois gourmandes]] to give lessons in French cooking to American women who lived in Paris. This school had been working up to the late 1970s. While Child became a successful television chef in the [[United States]], Beck continued her teaching practice at home. In 1972 she published her own [[cookbook]], ''Simca's Cuisine'' (with Patricia Simon), using some of the recipes that had not been mentioned in her previous books with Child and Bertholle. In 1979, she published the second volume, ''New Menus from Simca's Cuisine'', with Michael James, who was her student, friend, and assistant since the 1970s. ''Food and Friends: Recipes and Memories from Simca's Cuisine'', her autobiography and last cookbook (with Suzy Patterson), was published in 1991, the year she died.<ref name="Tribune">{{cite news | author1= Citron, Jane | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-05-23-8502010869-story.html  |title=MADAME SIMONE 'SIMCA' BECK REMAINS THE GRANDE DAME OF FRENCH CUISINE | work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=1985-05-23 | df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==Death==
Simone Beck died on Friday, December 20, 1991, at her home in [[Châteauneuf-de-Grasse]], a small village near [[Nice]]. She was 87.  
Her cousin, Harold Earle said she had been having heart problems for several months and had stopped eating; he stated, "The doctor said that because she wouldn't eat, she died".<ref name="NYTobit"/><ref name=”APNews”>{{cite news |url= https://apnews.com/article/b00cebecff8e5820dc1279c52645a549 | title= Simone Beck, America's Celebrity French Cook, Dies | author1=Ganley, Elanie |work=Associated Press | date=December 20, 1991 | df=mdy-all}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==

* Beck was portrayed by American actress [[Linda Emond]] in the 2009 film ''[[Julie & Julia]]''.<ref name="harvard.edu" />
* Beck was portrayed by [[Isabella Rossellini]] in the 2022 comedy television series ''[[Julia (2022 TV series)|Julia]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 31, 2022 |title='Julia' Episode Guide: How Many Episodes in HBO Max's Julia Child Series? |url=https://decider.com/2022/03/31/julia-hbo-max-episode-guide/ |access-date=March 31, 2022 |website=Decider |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fienberg |first=Daniel |date=March 23, 2022 |title=HBO Max's 'Julia': TV Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/julia-review-2-1235114520/ |access-date=March 31, 2022 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*''What's Cooking in France'' (Ives Washburn, Inc., 1952)
*''Le pruneau devant le fourneau: Recettes de cuisine'' (Louis Moulinié, 1957)
*''[[Mastering the Art of French Cooking]]'' Volume 1 co-authored with [[Julia Child]] and [[Louisette Bertholle]] 1961, {{ISBN|978-0394721781}}
*''[[Mastering the Art of French Cooking]]'' Volume 2 co-authored with [[Julia Child]]) 1970, {{ISBN|978-0394721774}}
*''Simca's Cuisine: 100 Classic French Recipes for Every Occasion'' co-authored with Patricia Simon 1972, {{ISBN|978-0762792986}}
*''New Menus from Simca's Cuisine'' co-authored with Michael James 1979, {{ISBN|978-0151652624}}
*''Food and Friends: Recipes and Memories from Simca's Cuisine'' co-authored with Suzanne Patterson 1991, {{ISBN|978-0140178173}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00442 Simone Beck Papers.]
*[http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.]

{{Julia Child|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Simone}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:French chefs]]
[[Category:French cookbook writers]]
[[Category:French women food writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Le Cordon Bleu]]
[[Category:20th-century French women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners]]
[[Category:French women chefs]]
[[Category:Cooking educators]]